California! Knows How to Party

 Okay, this is awesome. Once a year my mother-in-law uses some of the proceeds of the sale of her parents' farm to bring all of her daughters and daughters-in-law to one place for one weekend to have a mothers' conference calle MFME. (Those who aren't mothers yet come as "future mothers"). Since Jonah has four sisters and three sisters-in-law, this is quite a group! I love these sisters so much and we always have the most interesting, thought-provoking, ennobling, and hilarious discussions. 

Jonah's mom usually asks us to read a mothering-themed book for discussions, and this year we shared favorite mothering articles that we read for other discussions. We laugh, we cry, we get really really tired (well, not me, but you others know who you are)... and we eat. We make sure that we eat three full meals, plus snacks and desserts, every day. Because, when you are a mother, you often miss out on a meal or two. AND, we talk about the meals the whole time we are eating the meals. This is a very important tradition of the MFME retreats. 

Only nursing infants get to join the crew, so we all have this enlightening sense of freedom the whole time. It's a much needed boost of goodness to help us all go back into the "trenches" as better moms and better women. 

For a few years, California has been the most central location, so we have gathered there. This year, Linda found the most ecclectic luxury eco-home to rent right in Laguna Beach. The weather was heavenly and the whole weekend went by too quickly. 

There's the crowd in our usual "waiting for a table" discussion postures. 

For some better photos and much better and more complete synopses of the weekend, I suggest you click over to my sister-in-laws' blogs on the subject. *But I have to add that they did not cover one of my most memorable points of the trip, which was when I shared with them the dream Elsie had just had. Elsie had dreamt happily that my breasts were so large/long that the reached around and encompassed the whole world. I love that she shared that dream with me. Isn't that true motherhood in a nutshell? Don't we all want to not only nourish our own children but to let our maternity nourish the whole of humankind? We have a new acronym: BAW... breasts around the world.

Linda (Jonah's mom): http://eyrealm.blogspot.com/2013/03/plugging-in-to-mothers-and-future.html

Saren: http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2013/03/mfme-2013.html

Shawni: http://www.71toes.com/search/label/MFME

Saydi: http://bostonshumways.blogspot.com/2013/03/mfme-2013.html

Charity: http://drippingwithpassion.blogspot.com/2013/03/eyre-girls-hit-laguna-beach.html

I don't think any of the sisters-in-law-in-law did any blog posts, but they are pretty much the most awesome ladies in the history of the world because they are married to my husband's brothers, which means they have impeccable taste in men.

Here we are after church at my mom's ward (congregation), where a good friend from New Zealand is serving a mission!!! I think he was a tad embarrassed when I made him take a photo with all the pretty ladies. Love you Elder Armstrong!!

And here's a little video I made... mwah ha ha ha. 

Since we were having the MFME conference about ten minutes away from my mom's condo in Dana Point, I used a companion pass to bring Elsie along on the trip, where she stayed with my mom and her husband Ken for the four days I was at the MFME retreat. She was ostensibly ecstatic, to say the least. 

We had a horrible flight over the Pacific, but she didn't even notice with all over her overflowing excitement.  She even got to see her cousin Lyla in San Diego before we headed north. By the time I got back to my mom's on Sunday, she was refreshed and full of joy. Jonah and I had decided to let her go because she has seemed to be having a little bit of a hard time lately. She just seems a little isolated in the family, so this was a good time to help her recharge. Plus, we've taken the two older kids on trips during their year in Kindergarten, so we solidified it as a tradition. 

I was lucky enough to have three days at my mom's house. She introduced us to a cool, gigantic, addicting store called Hobby Lobby. Look at this (silk) rose!

Then, just to make my week extra perfect, my sister came over from Las Vegas! She brought her three kids and then I was truly in heaven. Finally, I got to meet, hold and love my new nephew Luke. Your sister's kids are like your own, don't you think?! It was breaking my heart to only see and talk to Luke over FaceTime. When I finally held him, my soul felt complete. It was like I had a child I had never met! He and I bonded instantly of course. 

It was equally heavenly to be with Ruthie and Reggie too. I love those kids and love to be with my sister and mom. There are no words to describe it. 

My mom had some free tickets for the Santa Ana Zoo, so we had a fun day there, although the weather had suddenly turned frigid. What the heck!?

Elsie and Ruthie, after years of nearly aggravating each other, have finally learned to get along and be buddies (I think it helped that Ruthie's idol Cam was not around to compete for her attention). 

Here's my cute mom doing some dancing with the girls. 

And here is five-month-old Luke. He's the apple of my eye.  

I was understandably sad to leave all these people I love so much, but it was okay because I was heading home to happy, healthy and well-cared for kids thanks to my dear husband who not only held down the fort, but did it with grace and aplomb. Thank you Jonah for spoling your wife once again! And thank you Linda and Mom for the memorable week. 

Cub Scouts

Somehow, someway, I didn't take a photo of Cam's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Car this year! Will someone slap me in the face please?!? Sheesh. Here is the pre-finished wood-carving pinewood derby. Cam had a hard time deciding how to paint it, but since the theme this year was "Racing Through Time", I showed him how to to a Delorian-style tin foil with "modge podge" skin on the car and whala! no paint needed. 

He took fourth (?) in his pack and was right in the middle of the 200 cars raced at the whole island Cub Scout Jamboree. Jonah was a big part of setting up the immensely complicated derby track, so in the hours he spent on that, I think we both forgot to take a photo of the fancy car. 

But, man, are we grateful for Cub Scouts. What a great program!

Random February Shots

Here are some random shots from February.

Po sometimes loves her "beach time". Other times she begs, "No beach time! No beach time!" We try to take her to the beach at least once a week. She's so spoiled.

 Ana and Cam have begun tennis lessons with an excellent coach. The coach was a protege of Billie Jean King! She's able to get more into their weekly 30 minutes lesson than other coaches did in four. We are glad we've found her-- Jonah's siblings and parents are tennis nuts, so we work hard to make sure we fit in. Jonah has been great about taking the kids to practice throughout the week too. I need to get my practice in as well!

The kids and Jonah helped clean our chapel on the Saturday I was out of town. I think Cam liked the leaf blower someone let him borrow. I'd love to have one of those too! Think of how quickly I could dry my hair!

The chickens are finally consistent with their egg laying, so I sold about half of them (I'm down to 20 from 50) and the others make enough eggs that we have plenty to sell to pay for their expensive feed. I have to admit, they generally drive me crazy, but I still can't NOT keep chickens. What is my problem!?

I'm gearing up to send them all to babysitters over the summer while we are off island. I hope they all do well. It has not been fun raising baby chickens on Maui (actually, I don't know if it's fun anywhere), so I'm glad to be past that stage with them and would hate to have to start over. 

 Somehow I missed out on this "beach time", but this is a fairly impressive fort, don't you think? Maui sand is so incredible. 

Paper Masks

(Not shown: dorsal fin on back)

Every few days, Elsie surprises us by coming out of school in a new form. She is obsessed with art and drawing... and she especially loves making paper costumes in school. Sometimes she makes costumes for the other kids in her class so she doesn't have time to do it for herself. I just have to say that her teacher is a saint, giving up all the tape and straws and paper needed to fulfill Elsie's creative demands. 

I especially liked the full length mermaid costume and a giraffe costume she did, but I can't find the photos presently. For now, enjoy the dolphin (above) and the cat and bunny below. 

(not shown: fluffy tail)

(check out the claws!)

Cam has recognized Elsie's ability to communicate through art, and has taken a different approach and has been attempting to get her to understand him through drawings. The other day, during an argument in which Elsie could not understand why he wanted her to give him some privacy, he took out paper and drew four comics of how what she was doing was affecting him. The first drawing was very angry, but as he drew, he calmed down. (I'll have to find those photos, too) Not surprisingly, after she studied his drawings, she drew a comic back showing how she really just wanted to be with him because he is a fun brother. He studied her drawing, they stopped arguing, and they worked out a compromise. Good job Cam!

Here's a drawing Cam did to try and show the different emotions he faces:

And while we are on the subject of artistic expression, here was Ana's sweet Valentine's Day "Heart Attack" that she put up to surprise us for V Day. XOXO

Ana the Boss

Ana is destined for a great future in telling people what to do. I don't know how I can tell... but I just can. It just comes so naturally for her. With her current videography and photography obsession, I think she might aspire to be a movie director some day. Here are some storyboards from her recent work... titled something that has to do with Breyer horses and trying to make it sound suspenseful..

The Brothers Come to Town

We were so excited and blessed to have three of Jonah's four brothers come to visit for a week in February. First, his youngest brother Eli and his wife Julie and brand new baby Zara (only 5-6 weeks) came for a few days before the crowd. They live in Washington D.C. Needless to say, we were beside ourselves with delight. 

We went on many walks and a few mild adventures...

And Jonah and Eli made some delicious fresh POG juice (pineapple-orange-guava).

Julie and Eli are the most natural new parents I've ever encountered. It helps that they have such a wonderful baby, but even perfect babies can frazzle new parents, and they didn't seem to have one single moment of unfrazzling. Wow! 

After a few days, Jonah's next younger brother Tal showed up with his wife. They live in Manhattan. They left their one year old daughter with Jonah's parents in Utah on their way here, so they were enjoying their first time away without baby. We met up with some mutual friends who were also on island, and we all went on a forest walk on Sunday afternoon. 

I'm pretending that Leo is a cute little baby like Zara, but he's the furthest (furriest) thing from. But, he thinks he's a baby, so there you are. 

Then, Noah and Kristi showed up, straight from San Diego! They were just here in November, so they only stayed one night before all three brothers and wives went to their five day work conference over in Lahaina. We took the liberty of coming over on Friday night and camping out in their plush hotel rooms for one night. We put the kids in Tal's room and Jonah and I slept on the floor in Noah and Kristi's. We loved using the pool and acting like we were tourists for a day. 

Jonah's cousins Ben (San Jose) and Sam (North Carolina) also work for the same company, so we were so lucky to get to hang out with them and their wives too! We all went out to dinner on Friday night. It was quite a tall group of guys!

Then, late that night, Jonah got all the brothers and cousin Ben to do a night dive at 1am. It was quite funny because it took them about two hours to finally head out, even though they all already rented scuba gear and everything. But, they finally made it out and had a great time, besides the fact there there were only two flashlights for five of them.... 

Elsie's favorite part of the whole hotel-crash was when she got to go to the buffet. I think buffets are my kids' favorite things the in the whole world. (I must admit, I love them too... it's my Vegas upbringing I guess). Elsie found the vat of freshly made whipped cream and slathered it on everything, even her bacon. It was a morning she will never forget. 

We were also fortunate that Eli and Julie decided to bless baby Zara while there were here. Eli chose to perform the blessing up on this great road in Keokea. We call it the Oprah Road because it cuts through Oprah Winfrey's ranch and goes right past her homes. 

Can you tell how thick the grass is? Such a beautiful spot. 

And a beautiful baby, so lucky to have all these great uncles.

We were incredibly sad when everybody left. Truly. It was a perfectly wonderful week and a half. We wish we all lived closed... but I think they need to move here if we want to make that happen. 

Nine Years of Cambo and Luvy Comes to Town

Ana is getting a little shortchanged in the blog of late since her birthday is way back in August, so I just want to give a shout out and say that she is an incredible daughter and is getting to be a good surfer too! 

One of the things she does that helps me so much is she folds the laundry... and not only that... she folds it into the neatest piles you have ever seen. Hooray!

Another thing I really appreciate is how she takes care of Po with total patience, kindness and adoration. She always offers to help Po whenever she needs it and even lets Po sleep in her bed and helps her say her prayers at night. She is an angel. 

Cam got to be on the "Morning Broadcast" one morning because he had done an exceptional job on teaching kids in his class how to clarify words, so he was asked to present his method to the school. I peaked into Elsie's kindergarten class to watch him. He did a great job... but he didn't get Elsie's incredibly loud voice, so it was just a little bit hard to hear him, but he looked very knowledgeable. 

Right before Cam turned nine, my mom came to the island!! Then to top it off, our old friend Mark came to visit too! it was a little packed having them both here at the same time, but Jonah and I gave our room to my mom and the guest room to Mark, and we enjoyed our super comfortable hideabed in the living room. 

We dragged Mark and my mom to the school events... 

And enjoyed Luvy's help in reading to Po (she can't be satiated...)

But every time my mom comes to visit, I feel bad that we aren't more adventurous. It's just so relaxing having her here. She gets my house in tip top shape, instantly turns all the kids happy, and just gathers us all like a hen under her wings. So sorry Mom. I hope you had a fun time. We just love to hang out and gaze at your beauty and marvel at your efficiency. But man oh man do we love having her here. 

Cam's birthday was a little less exciting than in year's past, but I think he had a good time with a chocolate sheet cake with a Lego guy on top. He also got some nice presents. He chose to have a birthday party this year, but we haven't had a free weekend since he turned nine, so we have yet to have his party yet... but when we do, it'll be epic! (BTW, just so you know how bad I am, I make my kids plan their own parties. Cam just couldn't decide what he wanted to do in addition to every weekend being booked, so I've just waited until he took the initiative, which he finally has, and he's planning one for the week after next). 

I used to have a photo here of my mom eating a Dorito! She made me take it down and replace it with this one. But that's okay. She has a reputation to maintain. 

We were so sad when Luvy and Mark (or Chocolate Mark as my kids named him) had to leave. We did spend a monumental amount of time at the beach and we went on some great walks and Jonah and Mark did some crazy stuff... but, alas, no photos. 

But here is a photo of Elsie's homemade kite!

And here is a photo of Elsie with a monarch butterfly that she caught in the garden. 

(She released it later, don't worry.)